Legacy of the Dark Sage

Chapter 968  The Cause of the Fall (1)

Kyran continuously used the Dragon Steps, hoping to gain some distance from The Emperor. However, no matter how many times or fast he executed the steps, he could not shake off the latter.

There was still some distance between the two, but it was not enough for Kyran to warp without The Emperor's notice.

Kyran started to contemplate the consequences if he revealed the fact that he also possessed the Void core. The Emperor seemed to be keen on taking the Draconic core, but if he knew the Void core was also in Kyran's possession...

Kyran shook his head at once. He only met The Emperor, but from what he had gleaned from his short exchange with Alastor, Ames's warning, and the memory of Deus's clone, he was manipulative and would go to any lengths to get what he wanted. Although he would not disregard the laws of each realm, he would test the limits of the realm's laws— thus tempting the balance of both realms.

Kyran barely knew the Lower Realm's Law, which was why he wanted to avoid anything that would make The Emperor test its limits just to get his way. One thing he managed to glean from Alastor's warning earlier was that randomly assaulting an inhabitant of the Lower Realm was not allowed. However, The Emperor made a point by stating that there was no rule in the Lower Realm that stated someone from the Higher Realm could not retrieve what was rightfully theirs. From this, it was not wrong to assume that as long as the assault was justified, then the Lower Realm's Law would not be breached.

Alastor reasoned that the item The Emperor claimed to be his would belong to the one it acknowledges. In Shaiha's case, The Emperor could not do anything against Kyran since it acknowledged him as its owner.

But what about in the case of the Draconic core?

The Emperor seemed to have acknowledged that it belonged to Kyran since he asked him to surrender it rather than return it.

From this, was it safe to say that the Lower Realm's Law would protect Kyran and the people he cared about?

Kyran included everyone he cared about because The Emperor gave him the feeling that if he knew about them, he would not hesitate to use them in order to make him surrender the Draconic core.

If the Lower Realm's Laws would protect his people, then Kyran would not hesitate to warp before The Emperor. But if not... Kyran was not confident enough that he could protect them from The Emperor. The latter probably did not need to dispatch his forces to annihilate Kyran's people.

While Kyran acquired the automatons in Somuli and was in the process of excavating more of the lost technology buried under the Armakea castle grounds, The Emperor would not wait for him to strengthen his side. Moreover, the latter possessed something that Kyran had yet to understand.

Dimension.

Kyran learned more about Dimension from the memories he got from Deus's clone. Ames also explained the gist of it, which was why Kyran knew how troublesome it would be.

If The Emperor unleashed his Dimension, he could annihilate a whole plane without even breaking a sweat, and this was under the restraints of the Lower Realm's Law as well as the Sovereign's Cradle. For short, any type of defensive move would not work against The Emperor's Dimension.

... Wait.

Kyran furrowed his brows as he thought of something.

The Emperor's Dimension was powerful enough to destroy a plane, even if he was under a huge shackle. Yet, for some unknown reason, he had not used it to detain Kyran.

Deus's automaton used Dimension at the get-go to trap Kyran. Why was The Emperor not doing the same? He even warned Kyran not to lump him together with Deus and his automaton because he was far more powerful than them. So, why did he not use his Dimension to trap Kyran and take the Shaiha and the Draconic core?

As this question fleeted through Kyran's mind, his eyes narrowed as a possibility crossed his mind.

Could the Lower Realm's shackle on The Emperor be far greater than the others from the Higher Realm? A shackle that prevented him from using most of his abilities?

This could very well be true because The Emperor had only been using concentrated magic energy attacks since the beginning. He had never cast a spell using magic arrays.

The Emperor was the peak existence in the Higher Realm. It would not be strange for the Lower Realm's shackle to be far more potent than the others.

But if this were the case, The Emperor's ability to keep up with Kyran's Dragon Steps spoke volumes about his physical and probably innate abilities.

Suddenly, a volley of golden rays flew past Kyran, and he barely avoided them by veering to his left. However, the volley of golden rays did not stop and continued to come at him.

Kyran continued to veer to the left, and his expression turned grim. He had already guessed what The Emperor was trying to do by sending out those golden rays.

'Tsk,' Kyran clicked his tongue as he tried to find a gap in The Emperor's volley of attacks to break out from the direction the latter was forcing him to take. If not, Kyran would make a full turn and arrive directly at The Emperor.

As another volley of golden rays came at Kyran, he changed his armor by combining the Draconic and Void magic. To ensure that The Emperor would not notice anything, he added an array formation that would keep the color and design of his armor the same. The moment the volley of golden rays arrived, instead of veering to his left, Kyran pressed on and endured the attack.

Unbeknownst to The Emperor, the only reason Kyran evaded his attack was because he did not know if his armor, which had been enhanced by his Draconic magic, could endure its penetrative ability.

A pure, concentrated magic attack from the peak existence in the Higher Realm was not something to be underestimated. However, after thinking of the possibility that the Lower Realm's shackles on The Emperor might be greater than the rest, Kyran believed he could endure the full blow of those golden rays as long as he combined the Draconic and Void magic to enhance his armor. All he had to do was make full use of the Void's nature to nullify any attack.

In the case wherein the Void could not nullify The Emperor's magic attack completely, at least it could lower its penetrative ability. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions erupted from The Emperor's magic attack, making contact with Kryan. This caused The Emperor to frown as he realized what his target was trying to do.

'To think he noticed what I was trying to do and chose to endure my attacks rather than evade...' The Emperor's eyes glinted with amusement.

"You are quite interesting. If you surrender to me now, I will allow you to keep the Draconic core and your life."

Though The Emperor spoke normally, his voice reverberated in the surroundings and reached Kyran with no problem.

Still, like earlier, Kyran ignored The Emperor because there was no point responding to the latter's nonsense. Moreover, if there was one thing Kyran learned after being exposed to so many outsiders, whether they were from the Lower Realm or the Higher Realm, it was never to trust everything they said. He would only trust those he deemed trustworthy, like Axil and Loar.

Kyran continued to press forward while enduring The Emperor's volley of golden ray magic attacks.

The Emperor's expression darkened further as he finally realized that his target was not simply enduring his attacks but successfully moving forward.

"Do not test my patience, human. If you continue to do so, I will rip your body apart and take the Heart of the Cosmos and the Draconic core!"

Kyran still ignored him.

"You have no idea of what you are trying to keep. You are far too weak to ensure their safety!"

This time, Kyran's interest was piqued slightly. Obviously, The Emperor did not covet the Heart of the Cosmos and the Draconic core simply because he wanted to keep them safe. Nonetheless, what he said was not entirely untrue.

Once word that Kyran possessed the Heart of the Cosmos and the Draconic core got out, there was no telling if he could keep these two safe.

At least, in The Emperor's sight, he believed Kyran did not have the capability to keep them safe.

But if the Void core were added to the equation, it would be an entirely different situation. Since Kyran knew more about its nature and theories, he was more than equipped to protect himself from others coveting the Ancient Magic cores he possessed as well as the Shaiha.

"Just possessing one of the Ancient Magic Cores already poses a huge threat to you, but you also have the Heart of the Cosmos. This means that the Higher Being will also be coming after you!"